Tokyo

We fly home tonight at just before 9:00 so we need to be at the airport for 6.  Check out time for both the Teeny Tiny apartment in Kuramae and for most hotels is 11am.  In most hotels you can leave your luggage for the day.  Most apartments don't have provision for that.

So when we were planning this trip, Lindsey and I thought it would be good to have our last night in a hotel.  We could leave our luggage and go out for the day, before checking in later in the afternoon. And, we can leave our luggage in the morning and head out for a last day of exploring.

So we did.  I found the Hotel Niwa (which means garden in Japanese) and booked us into a three bed room. I don't think our three bed room in the hotel is significantly smaller than the two bedroom apartment in Kuramae and there is much more room to move :-D

We abandoned our bags and took off to explore.  First of all, shopping in Ginza. A wander through Loft, a potter in the Tokyu Plaza. Japanese pizzas for lunch. Then in to the Hibiya Park and on to the Imperial Park to gaze at the Imperial Palace.

I turned around from taking photos to find Lindsey trying to explain to an American lady how to get to Tokyo station. We think that eventually the lady had grasped the route but I wasn't confident she could actually read the map. Then she pointed to the bridge leading up to the Imperial Palace and asked why we weren't allowed up there. We managed to remain polite as we explained that wandering up there would be much like ambling into Buckingham Palace or the White House. Not something you would be likely to do and if you did you would be arrested!

Hibiya Park

Hibiya Park

You could almost be in East Melbourne walking through this park

And then you turn around and see this - definitely NOT in East Melbourne!

One of the Queen's swans has emigrated!

 Back at the hotel, it was very tempting to put our pyjamas on and to declare the day finished.  However, we had promised ourselves a proper dinner to finish the trip and there is a restaurant in the hotel.  So it is true that we didn't actually have to leave the building but it seemed slightly inappropriate to go to dinner in our PJs.

We were very glad we decided to leave our day clothes on.  The restaurant offers a tasting menu.  And this was it:

Course 1:

Course 2:

 Course 3:

Course 4:

 Course 5:

And finally, course 6:

Very, very pretty. Very, very tasty

(Some of the food photos are Lindsey's)